Parsee Vs Precure
by Psieye
Summary: "Parsee would make a good Precure All-Stars movie villain" - from that thought came this crossover action story. Features all Precure up to and including Dokidoki.
1. 1 - Slices of Life Interrupted

**Preword:**

 _This is a giant crossover story. Power levels between action stories are subjective. This story chose its relative standards under the premise of 'I want to write a one-vs-many battle like in All-Stars movies'. While not essential, familiarity with the Precure titles from "Futari wa Pretty Cure" up to "Dokidoki Pretty Cure" is optimal. Why only up to "Dokidoki"? Because the end of that series was when I decided to write this story. Also note there is one detail I changed from the "Splash Star" canon. Artistic license was used on Parsee's attacks.  
_

* * *

"Hibiki and Kanade always give me strange looks when I dress up for an occasion. Am I doing something wrong?"

It began when Ellen said that within Erika's earshot. That led to a dress-up day out so Ellen could demonstrate her clothing sense. Erika and Miki were first to arrive at the meeting spot.

"Oh, that's from the latest Fashion Weekly issue," noted Erika. "I like your alternate choice for the top."

"Thanks," Miki took the compliment while posing at a few choice angles. "The original couldn't bring out my perfection as-is but luckily I had something in my wardrobe to compliment the rest. Nowhere near as adventurous as your outfit though."

"I saw a movie yesterday and the burning question hit me: what would have been fashionable if modern textiles were available to the Swiss a few centuries ago? This is one of my answers."

"The ankle scarf is a really neat touch."

"Thanks, it was worth digging around to find the right shoes to compliment it."

As the two veterans admired each other, Kurumi showed up.

"Woah, you two really know what you're doing," exclaimed Kurumi after greetings were exchanged.

"As I said before: I'm perfect," said Miki. "Though you're packing some punch with that blouse."

"It's the best I have, but I need to buy better today," declared Kurumi.

"A maiden's war preparations?" conjectured Erika. "Who's the objective?"

"A man who I cook for and live under the same roof with. He only has eyes for another girl." Kurumi basked in the ensuing gawking. To keep the stupefied pair in suspense, she drew attention to the approach of Regina and Kaoru.

"Excellent, you three look like you know how to buy clothes," waved Regina.

"You know how to make black work for you," said Kurumi. Erika and Miki had fixed their expressions but were still distracted.

"That's my problem, it's all I know how to make work," said Regina. "I want to wow papa with some variety."

"I want to learn how to pick out clothes for myself too," said Kaoru. "Mai picked this for me today, and I usually keep wearing the same fixed sets of clothes day in day out."

"Well you've certainly come to the right place," Kurumi held her nose high. "We'll polish your fashion sense as we meander through the high street. Wait what's that commotion over there?"

The girls tensed up. They were all veterans of fighting enemies who caused public disorder via giant summoned monsters. Their expectations were betrayed when Ellen emerged from the crowd as the centre of the ruckus. Doubly betrayed as she had the look of a fully-clothed Samba dancer.

"Hey everyone, sorry I'm a bit late!" greeted Ellen, who was doing her best to ignore all the stares from the crowd. Kurumi was quickest to recover: from facepalm she grabbed Ellen's right arm. Erika's stupor was similarly shaken off quickly: she clenched her jaw shut and grabbed Ellen's left arm.

"What's the rush? I'm not that late?" asked Ellen.

"I don't know where to begin with your sense," said Erika.

"You actually one-upped Nozomi in flabbergasting me," added Kurumi.

"We'll just dress you up ourselves to teach you how it's done," said Erika as they marched off Ellen to the nearest store.

* * *

Tsubomi nervously put down her tea cup. She thought she was used to rich environments since she'd visited Itsuki's home a number of times. But the Western grandeur of the Yotsuba mansion overwhelmed her. Maybe she should have gone with Erika to town instead, but Alice's schedule was too packed to postpone this. The conviction that persuaded Erika to let her fellow fashion club members off was crumbling just from the size of the room she was waiting in. Sitting beside her was Itsuki, engaging in small talk with Karen who sat on the opposite facing sofa.

Presently, Sebastian heralded Alice's entry and Tsubomi's nerves propelled her to standing attention.

"You don't need to be so formal Tsubomi," soothed Alice. She'd just come out of a stiff meeting full of executives clinging to protocol. But no fatigue from that business ritual showed on her face.

"The projector is loaded with your presentation," said Sebastian as automatic blinds and sliding machinery turned the room into a miniature cinema. As he handed Tsubomi the projector controller, she looked around at her small audience. A reassuring hand on her back from Itsuki, a supportive nod from Karen and a gentle smile from Alice. She gathered her courage and spoke up.

"Thank you for coming to listen to my request today. I would like everyone's advice-" Tsubomi paused as she made the title appear: 'Space Botany'. "-to make flowers bloom in space." Both Alice and Karen had a perspective far above a commoner but they were taken aback by the scope of Tsubomi's dream.

"It's ok, go on," said Itsuki when Tsubomi turned to her, unsure how to interpret the stunned silence of the rich. She'd helped Tsubomi write the slides and rehearse the talk. There was a certain satifaction to seeing she wasn't the only one blown away by Tsubomi's dream.

* * *

It was a slow business hour at Akane's restaurant. But the cooking did not slow down on this particular day. A week ago, Michiru mentioned she wanted to explore other types of cooking besides bakery. Now she was here with Saki and Hikari to try their hands at okonomiyaki grilling.

"This is difficult, it's still flour but why does it behave so differently?" complained Saki.

"The craft is long," said Akane. "You think you can pick it up as quickly as riding a bicycle? If I were to try baking bread, I'd probably make a lot of failures before my first half-decent piece."

"Saki still makes failures even after having baked for years," revealed Michiru.

"Michiru! You didn't have to say that," came Saki's weak response.

"Hikari, that's a pretty good first attempt," praised Akane.

"The extra thickness compared to a crepe threw me off," Hikari assessed, "and I'm not used to flipping. I'll get it right before I go home today." She set aside her first completed plate and went straight for take two.

"Wanna eat what we made?" asked Saki.

"Not yet," replied Michiru. "I want to enjoy this a bit more before taking a break." She too reached for the ingredients again after loading her first plate.

"Ok, I'll watch you while eating your first ever okonomiyaki."

"Hey Saki, you could do with the most practice you know," chided Akane.

"Can't let good food go to waste, and isn't it best to eat this while it's hot?" Saki pointed out. Akane couldn't answer back.

* * *

"-and then the princess would give a sideways glance which the duke misses," Komachi rattled off from her notepad. "Meantime, the gardener-"

"Uh, Komachi. Sorry but that'll go way over the heads of children," Miyuki pointed out. It was uncomfortable seeing the older girl deflate but her plot notes were derailing far off the objective: a picture book.

"Miyuki, I've finished roughs for the prince and princess," reported Yayoi.

"Great!" Miyuki took a look. "Is this prince wearing power armour?"

"Isn't this what plate armour looks like?" Yayoi defended.

"They certainly don't have shoulders like that," Ako criticised. "And this is not a princess dress. It's just a bedsheet with folds." Yayoi felt a strange weight of authentic expertise from the primary school girl.

"Was this what you had in mind for the castle?" Mai asked, showing her sketchbook.

"Woah uh, it's a good drawing Mai but well," Miyuki was at a loss for the right words. "The castle is so detailed it steals the show. It's meant to be a backdrop in the horizon. As is, nobody will be looking at the characters with that on the page."

"It's impractical," Ako declared. "The main reason a castle gets built isn't to look good."

It was Miyuki's vision to create a picture book but given she could only do crayon drawings, she asked for some help. She was grateful she got it but never expected it meant herding cats with a dog in the midst. If only she could express her vision better, but this impromptu first gathering of creativity and expertise was still better than what she could do alone.

* * *

"It's a good donut, but Kanade's cupcakes are better."

Thus Hibiki sparked a sweets cook off. Kanade outwardly sighed but was secretly happy for the praise and chance to show off. The number of girls who wanted to watch or join in was unexpected but manageable. Seika, the head of the Sweets Club, let them use the home economics classroom. The other group who wanted to eat without participating was... actually Kanade was used to that. Those girls were working up an appetite with soccer.

"Oops, I got pieces of egg shell in my batter," said Nozomi sheepishly.

"That's ok, Scoop them out with this," Seika said as she handed a spoon. "Let me show you how to crack eggs better."

"I'll have you know Aniki's donuts changed a world," said Tarte, jumping onto Love's shoulder. "You're serious you can make something that good?"

"I don't know if I can meet a bar that high but I do know I can change Hibiki's mood with my sweets," shrugged Kanade. "You be the judge." Her deftness with the wisk already gave her credibility.

"Hey stop moving around on my shoulder Tarte!" said Love. It was her first time mixing batter but she hadn't made a mess thanks to prior kitchen experience carrying over. The same couldn't be said for Nozomi, who had Seika encouraging and cleaning up after her.

"My batter is ready, where's the oven?" inquired Aguri.

"Aguri-chan, you're not done with that batter," stated Kanade as she poured the contents of her bowl into a mold. "It takes more than just frosting to make a good cupcake." Aguri was stunned her rebuttal was pre-emptively countered.

"Love, who will you give your first cupcake to?" asked Setsuna. She too had a wisk held in a rotating hand.

"I want to surprise mum with it," answered Love. "Oh but since you'd get to eat one first, I guess that wouldn't be my first cupcake. How about you?"

"After having you and Tarte confirm the taste, probably Westar. My world is hungry for more delicious food, I want to bring over baking knowledge."

"That's nice. Oh but we can't forget to give some to Miki and Buki."

"Of course not. What about Daichi?"

"Uh..." Love's eyes wandered to the window. "Oh my gosh, are they having a girls vs boys match down there?"

* * *

"This can't be happening," Nagisa uttered her trademark phrase. "How did it come to this?" The girls they had been playing soccer against were walking off and were being replaced by five boys.

"We thrashed them too hard," answered Rin. "I can understand why they'd want to stop playing against us. Didn't expect boys to show up though."

"Word spread real fast about our All-Stars soccer team, even before our first match ended," added Waon. 14 is the delicate age when children naturally segregate by sex when playing soccer. The transcendental competency of this 5-girl team blew away the inhibition puberty put down: when they're this good, who cares that these opponents were girls? "No worries, they're not regular members of the boys' soccer team."

"It's a straight, clean match. Challenge accepted," smiled Nao as she checked her ponytail wasn't coming loose.

"Oh yeah, can't let girls down by backing away here," chimed Hibiki. She liaised with the assembled opponents so the match would end in time to eat Kanade's sweets fresh out of the oven.

"We're really doing this... Alright then," Nagisa put on her game face and got her team into a planning huddle. Since Nagisa was the only one on her team who didn't have extensive soccer experience, she was the goalkeeper. Her lacross experience and hours of watching Fujimura's matches served her well when reading what's going on in the game. Her loud voice could carry commands across the five-a-side sized soccer field. The other girls were experienced team players who could respond properly to Nagisa's yells after being briefed beforehand.

The match started with the boys getting a quick offense through. Acknowledging she couldn't overtake their striker, Nao took a sharp turn and ran towards the sidelines. This confused the boys but didn't stop them cheering for the goal attempt. Nagisa punched it away. The ball flew out to the sides, where Nao chested it back to the ground. By the time the boys had scrambled a defence, Nao was already in shooting range of the goal. Two defenders were in her way.

"Pass 4!" yelled Nagisa from the other side of the pitch, i.e. 4 o'clock direction. The ball transferred from Nao's feet to Hibiki who immediately passed to Waon. She had been carefully avoiding standing off-side on the other side of the pitch. It was a long shot but there was nobody in the way. Waon took her shot. It hit the goal post and rebounded.

The boys sighed in relief. That only happened because they had taken their eyes off Hibiki. Seemingly out of nowhere, she jumped from behind and kicked the ball in the air.

"Score!" Hibiki gave Waon a high-five and accepted congratulations from the other girls, ignoring the dumbstruck opponents.

* * *

Rikka indulged in the moment, listening to Mana reading the introductory poem signaling a Karuta match. She'd finished memorising where the 50 torifuda cards were. It was one of those rare occasions Mana wasn't running off to help someone else or being monopolised by Regina. Right now, Mana was there just for her.

They had just finished drafting the overall plan for a joint-school culture festival. Technically they were no longer on the student council but they'd been asked for help. The details would be worked out by this year's student council. Since it was still early in the day, they had invited the other party to some recreation: Karuta.

Mana read the first yomifuda card: "If I lay my head-"

Rikka's hand darted for the upper corner of her territory where the matching card was. But her fingers only scraped the tabletop. She glimpsed up to see Reika's stone face.

'It's just one card, don't get ruffled,' Rikka calmed herself. Reika moved the furthest card from her territory to the space now vacated in Rikka's territory.

"If I should live long, then perhaps the present days-" Mana read the next yomifuda. This one was a dud, one of the 50 cards which didn't have their torifuda counterparts in play this round. When Rikka let down her tension, she noticed Reika was looking at her arm not the table. Suspicion crept into Rikka.

"An-" The third yomifuda was one of the seven poems that had a unique first syllable. This one was deep in her territory so Rikka stole a glance as she snapped it away. Reika had flinched but stopped when she saw Rikka was going to reach first.

"Quick hand you have," complimented Reika.

"And your eye is quicker," Rikka answered back. "You're not wasting energy reaching for a card you see I'm going to get first." Blissful indulgence evaporated in the face of the efficient competition.

* * *

"Chuutarou, this is a mirror," taught Buki. Honoka's pet dog barked in surprise at seeing himself. Buki explained and demonstrated to him there wasn't a second dog on the other side. Once the dog had settled down, Honoka put a wig on him.

"Chuutarou, how do you feel?" asked Honoka, relaying through Buki. She was fascinated by her animal communication magic. Truth be told, Honoka wanted to go on an expedition into nature with Buki to interview the wildlife. But one afternoon wasn't enough time for such a venture. Getting to hear what your pet is thinking wasn't a bad alternative.

"He says it's itchy and it's not as cool as when you dress up as a mighty fighter," translated Buki. She noted down the itchy detail in a notebook. Her dad would appreciate the feedback on this latest iteration of the pet wig.

"Huh, he knew I was Precure?" Honoka gasped.

"It was when he was helping a small friend find his master." Buki took off the wig. "I'm amazed dad can keep trying with this wig series."

"Thomas Edison had 1000 failures when he was developing the light bulb," said Honoka. "When asked if he'd learnt nothing from all those failures, his answer was 'no, I have learnt 1000 different materials that aren't suitable'."

"That's a nice quote," said Buki. Chuutarou barked when he got fitted with the next wig. "Oh he likes this one."

* * *

"Agent, not attending the ball is out of the question for the lady," stated Urara, the spymaster.

"Madam, with all due respect that ball is a trap," warned Makoto, the spy.

"It's our job to disarm the trap, so the lady can do her job. Who are the involved players?"

"There are three groups who are poised to strike. The first is... is... I've forgotten my lines."

Their assumed personas vanished and they were school girls again.

"Let's take a break," said Urara.

"Acting just does not come to me naturally," admitted Makoto. "How do you do it so well?"

"All my life I've aspired to follow my late mother's footsteps. She was a world-class actress," explained Urara. "I've got a few showbiz events under my belt now but this film role is a big step for me so I don't want to mess up, even if it's a side character."

"That is admirable."

"You got to the big stage before me. How did you do it?"

"When I fled the invasion of my world, I only had Davy and the clothes on my back. The only way I knew to make a living here was to sing. I also had to put myself in the public eye so my princess could find me if she was alive. I've sung for her since I was young, so that's what gave me my drive."

"Wow, that is a hard motivator."

"It was a rough start and I had that ulterior motive, but I do love singing. I'd have quit halfway through otherwise. How about you?"

"Yes, I love acting. I'm not just doing it to pursue the memory of my mother."

"That's good," Makoto looked at the script to refresh her memory. "Ok let's do this, from the top."

"Agent, not attending the ball is out of the question for the lady," stated Urara, the spymaster.

* * *

The ensuing lecture and clothes changing marathon could have lasted for hours. Hummy was enjoying the ever changing view of Ellen but Coffret was at his limit. Fuup wasn't great company to be hiding in a bag with. The flying blob was getting melancholy from being denied the planned sightseeing. Coffret envied how Hummy could move about publically without attracting unwanted attention. Just for an instant, his head flared with hot jealousy towards the talking cat before he shook himself out of it.

'It's not fair, Momo-nee had to give up on a social life to become a model, but Miki can even make time to dance on stage. We're the same age and yet all her friends have well developed bodies. I wish they'd just... wait what am I thinking?' Erika regained control of her train of thought. To force herself back to reality, she looked at her hands. They were holding a pair of shirts.

'That's right, I picked up these clothes to show Ellen what doesn't work together. But this sure is good fabric, I want to cut it up to use on... stop it me!' Erika shook her head hard to clear that derailment.

'Why did I suddenly feel so jealous of Erika's mother owning a clothes store?' Miki stared hard at her reflection in the changing booth. 'I'm a perfect hard worker, there's no reason I should be ashamed of my family's income.' She had been helping Kaoru rotate through a roster of outfits to teach her some fashion basics. In the mirror, she saw Kaoru glaring at her hand while holding an imaginary pen or brush. Before she could speak to Kaoru, a sudden image of Kurumi in the arms of a man came to her mind. Her face flushed, but not with guilty excitement.

'Why? I'm perfect but I've yet to have a love life. How could Kurumi get ahead of me so far? I wish she'd... wait, wait, why am I getting these ugly thoughts?'

"Girls, did everyone feel unnatural jealousy just now?" Ellen's head popped out from the neighbouring booth. Miki felt instant relief it wasn't just her that was affected.

"Yeah something tampered with our minds," said Kurumi, emerging from the booth she was helping Regina get changed in. "But different to when I had a mask of despair forced on me."

"I haven't felt emotion this strong since papa got saved," said Regina.

"Everyone in the store is acting strange," said Erika as she returned to the changing area. "There's fights breaking out between the customers."

"Something out there must be attacking everyone's hearts," conjectured Ellen. Her long experience of being under mind control made her grimace. The other girls also switched into veteran mode. They had all fought enemies who had exploited unnatural mental influences. The petty jealousies fell off as they steeled their hearts with responsibility.

"We should go out there together," said Miki as she helped Kaoru finish dressing.

"I still need to get changed," said Regina. Experiencing tens of battles does not make a teenage girl an exhibitionist.

"Same here," chimed in Ellen.

"We'll lend a hand," said Erika as she entered Ellen's booth. "We don't want you realising you were under-dressed when everything's back to normal." While helping the two finish dressing, they picked which directions they'd search in.

"I'll contact Michiru and the others," said Kaoru. "Good luck finding the mastermind quickly." The other girls nodded and transformed.


	2. 2 - First Impressions

Some roof hopping later, Marine found the source of the chaos - a girl floating in mid-air was a dead giveaway. The Cures had agreed not to fly for the sake of stealth but she spotted her and turned to face her. Marine's eyes had already looked over the floating figure's outfit and she only made eye contact after taking in the short, wavy blonde hair, pointy ears and pale-skinned face.

"Interesting motif on your skirt there," spoke Marine. "Are those strings meant to make your skirt look like a bridge?"

"Yes and the wide pleats represent the planks of the bridge," answered the humanoid girl. Marine felt uncomfortable being scrutinised by her green eyes.

"The rest of your clothes look off, what's with that antiquated look?" It was the first thing Marine could think to say to keep her mind off the green-eyed stare.

"This is contemporary where I come from. But I suppose to someone who dresses so ostentatiously I must look so plain. Is that supposed to be a flower skirt?"

"Yeah, I am the flower that flutters by the ocean winds, Cure Marine." She posed to match the declaration. "Where do you come from for that look to be contemporary?"

"I am Mizuhashi Parsee, from the underworld. I am the bridge princess who watches over the passage from my world to the surface," stated Parsee. "Something pulled me from behind and next thing I know, I'm in this disgustingly lively place with a sun over my head. Such pointlessly tall structures, built so stupidly close together, with so many humans crawling around wearing such extravagant outfits... It makes me so sick I had to do something about it."

"So you admit to causing all this trouble for everyone?" Marine took up a fighting stance.

"And you must be a guardian of this accursed place. Good, I need a target to shoot my heart out and the docile cattle on the ground wouldn't bring any satisfaction."

Originally the Cures had meant to notify each other with an effect akin to a signal flare when they found the culprit. That detail got lost when Marine heard Parsee's utter disregard for human worth. Not that it mattered as Parsee answered Marine's bloodrush with a projectile that made a lot of smoke, light and noise.

Marine was knocked into the air and gracefully began flying herself by conjuring Coffret-turned-cape. She saw Parsee raise her altitude and the civilians running for cover. The unnatural influence didn't override their survival instincts and they were experienced at getting to safety when Precure had to show up.

* * *

One day, Nuts came across a copy of the Art of War when doing a library dive. One all-nighter later, he realised that logistics was more important than tactics. His own experiences reinforced this lesson: a whole kingdom could be re-built from ground up if its people were gathered and they had resources. Likewise, the legendary warriors were only invincible when they worked together. The first requirement to that would be situation awareness.

Milk scolded him the next morning for not exercising restraint. During that rant, he came up with ideas for how the Precure could contact each other in times of emergency. Cell phone networks were a wonderful feature of the human world but they were prone to get overloaded during episodes of mass panic. Such episodes were exactly when Precure needed clear communication.

Consulting with the other fairies, they settled on a unified spell to solve the issue. And so Fuup transmitted Kaoru's voice to Moup who was eating Michiru's okonomiyaki while Porun was playing tag with Flappi and Larun. In the short time it took Kaoru to get Saki's group up to speed, Hikari and Akane had turned off and cleaned the grills. Binning half-cooked okonomiyaki was regretable but store hygiene was important.

"There's a bookstore a few minutes away from here," said Akane. "I'll bring everyone over."

"Ok, I'll contact Mai while waiting for you," answered Kaoru.

"Mai is with Miyuki today," interjected Saki. "Tell her to come to the secret base where I'll wait for her."

"Mai to secret base, got it," replied Kaoru.

The girls ran to the nearest bookshelf - opening portals from them was a very convenient ability the Smile Precure had. While in transit, the fairies were busy spreading the word.

* * *

Parsee opened with one shot, straight and fast. Marine did a barrel roll to dodge as she closed the distance. Parsee noted the width she had evaded by.

"You like it up-close huh?" said Parsee as her arm stopped Marine's roundhouse kick. Marine answered by twisting into a punch with the opposite arm. Her fist was caught but she followed through with her foot rising to meet her opponent's chin. In response, Parsee released the fist and backflipped to dodge the kick. Actually, she stopped the backflip, tucked her legs in and sprang forwards into a double kick. Marine had misread, she only had time to bring her arms into a block. As Parsee's momentum knocked Marine back, she sent another fast shot to pursue. Seeing it coming, Marine braced her arms again and took the impact.

"You're an amateur in flight and your reactions to my bullets were clumsy," sneered Parsee. "Is that all you got?"

"You want a shooting match do you?" shouted Marine. "Marine Shoot!" With a circular wave, she conjured dozens of bullets. Parsee sighed once she saw their collective trajectories formed a narrow cone. She drifted sideways just enough for the closest bullets to rustle her hair as they blew by. Mild surprise showed on her face before she flew up to arc over a dozen quaver-shaped bullets that came from behind.

"Beat Sonic!" yelled Beat from a rooftop. The enemy dodging an attack from a blind spot was very surprising but she did not stop because of that. Another wave of quaver shots flew out. Marine floated up to intercept Parsee's dodge. Without taking her eyes off her flower-dressed opponent, Parsee dropped altitude and let the quavers come into view over her head. The kick from her 7 o'clock direction made her expression turn to surprise but not pain, as if she'd jumped at a successful prank. As the momentum threw her in the air, Parsee turned to see Milky Rose landing on the street.

"Espoir Shower!" came Berry's attack from behind. Parsee twirled sideways to avoid it and looked up.

"O wind of the heavens!" Windy gave Regina a mighty tailwind. She charged in, power-infused spearpoint first. While Parsee sharply accelerated backwards, she sprayed out green fireballs to deter pursuit. Regina cut down the ones that would hit her and ignored the wide shots that had assumed she'd dodge.

Both sides stopped moving and assessed the other. The Cures were wondering why only Milky Rose successfully caught Parsee unaware. Parsee took in the variety of fighters who joined the fight. The spear-wielder caught her eye: she was the only fighter with a weapon and her outfit wasn't as simple. Her dress was a dark green background with floral patterns on one side, expressed with black stems and white flowers. The other side had a bird motif, also in white. Diamond-checkered, black and white socks extended beyond the knee-length hemline. A white jacket covered the arms.

"I see, you lot are basically a bunch of fairies who like to body slam," said Parsee. She sneered with jealousy at their colourful clothes and coordinated combat. The Cures interpreted the sneer as snobbery.

"Who are you calling fairies?" reacted Marine. Being a citizen of Palmier, a kingdom of fairies, Milky Rose gave her a look but did not break dialogue.

"Fairies are the weakest race," explained Parsee. "They are insignificant individually but they are remarkably coordinated when they're ganging up on a strong foe. Easy to agitate and quick to go down, they're only good for warmup before a proper duel. Doesn't that match you girls?"

"If you want to warm up, we'll happily heat things up for you," said Beat.

"We'll show you what 'fairies' can do when they work together!" said Milky Rose.

"Then come dance with me," said Parsee. Oblong concentrations of energy radiated out from her and coalesced into bullets. Half of them were yellow and flew like they were swung by a clockwise cyclone. The other half was blue and came like they rode an anti-clockwise cyclone. Facing wave after wave of these uncomfortably dense bullets, the Precure took shelter behind buildings while shattered windows showered the surroundings in glass.

"Hey, how does hiding count as 'working together'?" taunted Parsee as she threw a large, green orb of energy. It emerged near Berry's location in a cloud of rubble. Jumping aside, Berry could only block the continuous, bi-cyclonic barrage with her arms while seeking new cover. Parsee gleefully launched another big orb at her stranded target. Beat jumped towards Berry, clenching her teeth as she got grazed by a blue bullet.

"Beat Barrier!" the protective sphere could shelter from the curved rain of smaller bullets but only slowed down the green shot. That delay was enough for Berry to regain her bearings and jump away with Beat in her arms. While Parsee was focussed on them, Marine and Regina had moved to her sides. Both fired their own barrage, spreading the shots wide. Parsee didn't turn to look at either side as she drifted back, occasionally twisting her body to evade. Her onslaught of blue and yellow bullets did not stop either, forcing Marine and Regina to retreat out of view.

"Don't tell me you fairies can't even dodge the warm up?" asked Parsee. "This is boring, I'll give you a break so you can figure out how to stand. Be sure to satisfy me next time." Contrary to what the Precure were used to, Parsee did not leave. She stayed in the air with a condescending gaze as they regrouped.

* * *

"What happened here?" cried Sunny as she pulled Shiny Luminous and Cure Bright out of a nearby bookshelf.

"So much destruction..." lamented Luminous.

"Windy!" called out Bright, "Everyone ok?"

"Nothing serious," answered Beat, rubbing at where she got hit. "But this Parsee up there fights very differently."

"How can she afford to shoot every direction at once?" said Marine.

"She even has spare power to shoot something through Beat's barrier," added Berry.

"I shot her from behind and she dodged like she could see it," said Beat.

"But she didn't see me when I kicked her from behind?" pondered Milky Rose.

"It's bullet sense, little fairies," shouted Parsee from above, "aren't you jealous you can't dodge without turning your head?"

"Ok, so her sense only works for projectiles," analysed Regina, "but we can't get close to her while she's constantly shooting everywhere."

"Then we'll need to wait for more of us to gather before we can seriously attack," stated Sunny.

"Hey, why aren't you getting jealous?" shouted Parsee.

"Everyone has different pros and cons!" Marine shouted back. "We can't have every pro at once, we know to cherish what we do have!"

"What you do have? I'll show you it's pointless to cherish the irrelevant!" Parsee took out a card, held it up and declared "Jealousy Sign: Green-Eyed Monster!"

* * *

The sky vanished. What replaced it looked like a dense mesh of green strands.

"This is like when an Akanbe shows up..." said Sunny. "Watch out! She's coming!"

Parsee was riding a flying mount that was invisible except for its huge, green eyes. As it travelled, it left behind a thick, glowing gas trail that persisted while giving off a sickly green hue. The Precure scattered as Parsee crashed the monster into where they were standing.

"Sunny Fire!" The volleyball star accurately spiked the blazing ball despite her target moving fast. Parsee jumped up without looking, lazily flipping over. Her mount did a vertical U-turn and Parsee was back on it while upside down. Locking eyes with Sunny, she charged in while casually tilting her head to avoid Berry's Espoir Shower.

Sunny kicked off the ground and threw a punch at Parsee's upside down face. The arm that parried that punch then lunged to grab. But that move was aborted as Parsee threw her body hard onto her back because of Marine Shoot. Sunny had dived out of the way when Parsee righted her posture.

"Luminous Heartiel Action!" The heart-shaped light passed through the gas trail where Parsee had turned a sharp corner. Her new direction made her face Regina's spear charge. Twisting her body out of the way, Parsee grabbed the spear's shaft and threw it and its wielder into the green clouds behind. Her exposure to it was brief, but Regina cried out in pain when she emerged.

"Are you ok?" asked Luminous as she saved Regina from hitting the asphalt ground. Regina could only cough and gulp air.

"Tough fairy aren't you?" Parsee taunted while coming in for another charge.

"Milky Rose Metal Blizzard!" Hundreds of petals were coming in from Parsee's side. She turned her mount to fly in the same direction. Weaving through the gaps, she carefully let the barrage pass over, under and around her.

"Thanks..." uttered Regina weakly while being carried by Luminous. "I can stand on my own now."

"You're still weak, you can rely on me more" answered Luminous.

* * *

Conservation of strength. That was the overall strategy Precure had in mind while they waited for reinforcements. But as they continued being defensive, the flaw in this approach became apparent.

"We're trapped by an invisible dome!" exclaimed Berry as she felt the edge of their available space, then jumped away as Parsee's mount charged at her.

"There's not much space left which doesn't have clouds!" announced Sunny.

"I can't blow them away!" cried Windy while flying under a cloud line. Parsee flew past where she was, another area marked off.

"Parsee herself flies through them just fine!" observed Beat while watching for the right timing. They had to attack back.

"She hasn't been shooting while riding that thing, we can do this!" shouted Marine.

Parsee had locked onto Windy, slowly cutting off what little room she had left. As Windy zigzagged around the numerous cloud pillars, Parsee ignored the maze and came straight through.

"O light of the moon!" Bright jumped up and let off a blinding flash. Parsee was still rubbing her eyes when Marine, Beat, Berry and Sunny all released their finisher moves from as close as they could get.

Parsee laid flat on her invisible mount to duck under Blue Forte Wave. Her hands pushed her up in the air over Heartful Beat Rock and Espoir Shower Fresh. A mid-air pirouette with eyes still closed evaded Sunny Fire Burning. While the Precure were stunned that none of their attacks hit, Parsee's monster had regrouped with her and was rushing towards Marine.

"Finally putting up a meaningful fight!" Parsee cheered while Marine could only think to block. "Oh curse me!" Marine had been expecting to be hit by a huge body, not a kick. The momentum sent her flying, but both the monster and the clouds had disappeared. The sky returned with the sight of relief on Mint, Muse, Egret and Bloom's faces.

"What just happened?" asked Marine.

"You don't know the rules of spellcard duels?" snickered Parsee, as if everyone present didn't know how to tie shoe laces.

"Where's Happy and Peace?" asked Sunny.

"Fetching everyone else, they shouldn't be long," answered Egret. "What was that gloomy dome you were in?"

"Seems Parsee up there can seal off an area as a private battleground," conjectured Beat. "She's very strong, don't block her attacks."

"Regina?!" Mint noticed her state.

"I'm-" started Regina.

"-going to rest with me," declared Milky Rose as she took her from Luminous. Another Metal Blizzard wasn't possible so soon and regular melee was not looking favourable.


	3. 3 - Escalation

As Regina and Milky Rose made their retreat, Parsee began the bi-cyclonic, omni-directional bombardment again.

"Sparkling Shower!" As Muse watched Parsee deftly avoid her counterattack, the question struck her: why wasn't she chasing after Regina? It's common sense to finish off weakened foes and Parsee was nimble enough to evade attempts to stop her. Muse started searching for an explanation.

"Ok new fairies, show me how you dance," invited Parsee as she suspended her indiscriminate attacks and switched to focused firepower on Mint. The green barrier maiden inteded to stand her ground. But before Mint Shield was erected, Beat flew in from the side and tackled Mint, putting the two of them out of the way.

"Don't block her small shots!" warned Beat, shouting to make herself heard over the alegretto percussion playing out as asphalt ground cracked and caved where Mint had stood. "She follows up hard if you stay still!"

Meantime, Bloom and Egret had jumped in from both sides of Parsee when she stopped shooting in their directions. Seeing Parsee notice and fly up, the two turned around such that they could jump off each other's feet when they collided mid-air. This maneuveur cleared them of the big green ball that Parsee had conjured and thrown down. As soon as that projectile left Parsee's grasp, she had to respond to Bright's fist closing in from the front. It was parried but Windy's kick from behind connected. The momentum from that put her in range of Bright's elbow.

"Enough!" shouted Parsee as she exploded a wave of omni-directional projectiles to force a disengage. Pulling out another card, she declared "Tongue-Cut Sparrow: Hate for the Humble and Rich!"

* * *

Parsee vanished with the sky. When the background of green strands came into being, two Parsees materialised at opposite ends of the pocket world. They both walked towards the Precure while periodically pulsing a wave of slow, white bullets in all directions. These football-sized bullets flew so slow, it was possible to accidentally collide with them while jumping backwards. The frequency at which they were fired deterred getting close. At uneven intervals, much larger and faster spheres of green energy would be fired instead.

"Espoir Shower Fresh!" Berry's attack hit one of the Parsees. It didn't look effective, but what surprised Berry was the complete lack of attempt to dodge.

"Beat Sonic!" Similarly, the other Parsee lacked evasive reflexes, shrugging off the attack.

"Mint!" A name call, eye contact and a couple hand gestures conveyed everything Sunny needed to tell Mint for their joint action. While Bloom backflipped over a white bullet to dodge a green sphere, Sunny dashed under one to get as close as she dared.

"Sunny Fire Burning!" "Emerald Saucer!" The two strong attacks hit their respective target at the same time. Sunny didn't want to slowly figure out which Parsee was the fake one - not when everyone was under pressure from the constant barrage. The fake one detonating when hit hard was completely unexpected. The size of the explosion also caught Muse and Berry off guard. The real Parsee vanished when identified.

"Sunny!?" Everyone still able rushed towards the three prone on the ground, who coughed or otherwise let their consciousness be known. They were carried to safety from the moving white minefield. Parsee re-appeared with another fake copy at far ends of the zone. The few signs of battle she had accumulated thus far were identical on both bodies.

"This isn't over yet, fairies!" taunted the two Parsees in stereo. Marine started giving brief instructions.

"Trust me, I'll make it work," assured Marine before Egret voiced everyone's concerns. "Luminous, please."

"Heartiel Action!" The Splash Star quartet were bathed in rainbow light, augmenting their speed. Egret and Bloom advanced towards one Parsee while Bright and Windy headed for the other. Both pairs took a sideways detour first so they could dodge possible directed attacks without worry for anyone behind them.

"Get ready to shield," Marine told Beat and Mint in the meantime.

"But you know wha-" started Beat as Marine pulled out her equipment.

"The magenta light is the saintly perfume! With one spray, let's go all out!" After the magic perfume was applied, Marine's hair and clothes were dyed red and she seemed to give off a glow of the same colour. A maniac grin spread across her face.

Suddenly, Marine picked up Beat and threw her towards Bright and Windy's destination. Her trajectory cut through the white minefield without any collisions. As Beat's shriek of surprise was Doppler shifted into the lower octaves, Mint was also picked up. Marine sprang towards Egret and Bloom's target while carrying Mint. The green girl was shaken badly due to Marine dodging oblique bullets at high speed.

Bright was weaving through the ever narrower gaps in the white minefield together with Windy. Just as she thought they couldn't dodge anymore, she heard a very high pitch shriek coming towards her. Her dilemma of whether to look away from the bullets was solved when Beat flew by in front of her vision.

"Beat Barrier!" The barrier was only in place to absorb one wave of white bullets before Beat moved past. That one wave was all Parsee had time for before Bright grappled her.

"Mint Shield!" Likewise, Mint blocked the one wave that would have hit Bloom and Egret before Marine carried her out of range. Both Parsee faces blossomed in surprise as Bloom and Bright threw the two bodies at each other.

"Spiral Heart Splash!" "Spiral Star Splash!" Each Parsee was hit by an intense beams of Precure magic. The fake one blew up after colliding with the real body. The green mesh background shattered, bringing the everyday sky back to view.

* * *

When the dust cloud settled, Parsee could be seen sprawled on the ground. She sat up and started mumbling to herself while chewing on her thumbnail and giving an intense glare. Not wanting to agitate her, the Precure kept their distance.

Syrup was in bird form, carrying more Precure as passengers. They had arrived to the sight of a large green dome where they last heard the fight was. Seeing it shatter, they were relieved and Syrup flew down. Out came Melody, Rhythm, Dream, Rouge, Lemonade, March and Sword.

"What happened to Sunny, Berry and Muse?" asked Rouge.

"Big explosion," replied Sunny while laid out on the ground. "We'll get over it."

"I'll look after Muse and the others," said Beat, with Muse silently protesting in her arms.

"I'm coming with you," announced Luminous with Berry over her shoulder. "If that's alright?"

"We'll be fine," said Mint, ignoring her recent exertions. "Where are Aqua and the others?"

"This fight affected a much bigger area than anticipated," answered Dream. "Aqua and the others are escorting civilians to more distant shelters. You should go to her Mint."

"But-" began Mint's protest.

"It's ok," re-affirmed Dream. "Milk told us about how strong Parsee is so we'll be careful. Show Aqua you're safe and return when she finishes overseeing everyone's safety." Rouge had picked up Sunny and now handed her to Mint, then gently pushed her towards Syrup.

With the departure of Mint, Sunny, Beat, Muse, Luminous and Berry on Syrup's avian back, the Precure started discussing tactics. Parsee didn't let them talk for long before she snapped onto her feet, pulled out another card then declared: "Grandpa Hanasaka: Jealousy of the Kind and Lovely"

* * *

Under the green meshed dome, Parsee primed as if to sprint. What actually accelerated forwards was a green, Parsee-shaped missile. After splitting from the real body, its pose was frozen and its trajectory was linear. Much like a fighter jet's missiles would leave a trail of smoke in its wake, this projectile left a trail of... flowers? Bloom was busy dodging but everyone else was surprised to see purple and pink flowers, conjured and suspended in the air where the green Parsee silhouette had passed. They were larger than human heads and the Precure were sure it wasn't just for decoration. Parsee leaned forward and a second Parsee-shape flew out, this one posed to do a shoulder ram. As Egret cartwheeled aside, Sword picked up a piece of rubble and threw it at the flowers. There were a few synchronised nods when the concrete flew back with a few petals after the ensuing explosion. The blast radius had been relatively small.

This had been warm up for Parsee. The silhouettes were now coming out at close intervals. Each time one got expelled from Parsee, a ring of lime green bullets would radiate out to cover the other directions.

"She's really holding a grudge against us," said Bright while jumping aside. Every silhouette had been aimed in her team's direction. Given the explosion in the previous spellcard, the Precure were wary of making physical contact with these body missiles.

"We're getting boxed in!" shouted Windy, narrowly stopping herself from running into an earlier trail of suspended flowers.

"That means everyone else isn't," said Egret. "Trust them!"

"Fire Strike!" "March Shoot!" As if on cue, two soccer ball attacks came in from the sides, safely detonating the flower-shaped impediments. Rouge and March then passed each other's 'soccer balls' back, clearing more lines of flowers. Then Rouge passed to Melody who kicked the fire ball over to March.

"When'd you learn to do that?" asked Rhythm, as the purple and pink petals scattered from Melody's shot.

"It's a ball, of course I know how to kick it," answered Melody while tilting her head out of the path of a lime green bullet.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Bloom. The density of the big petals had obscured her vision just long enough. When she saw the next body-missile, it was too late to dodge.

"Blue Forte Wave!" The intercepted silhouette lost all momentum and floated up before vanishing. Seeing the countermeasures, Parsee stopped attacking and ran towards Egret's group.

"Sparkle Sword!" The spray of purple swords made Parsee fly up but otherwise didn't slow her down.

"Out of bombs or something?" she inquired while resuming her silhouette attacks on Bloom, Egret, Bright and Windy from much closer above. The other Precure were out of position, they could not alleviate this pressure for them. Once again, they beckoned for the spirits to give them strength.

"Spiral-" began Bloom and Egret.

"Slow!" denounced Parsee as she flung herself to the ground. Before anyone could react, four green bodies were simultaneously expelled. They all connected, sending Bloom, Egret, Bright and Windy flying through the rubble.

"I'll admit, you four surprised me last time," shouted Parsee in their direction. She was breathing heavily from the sudden burst of activity. The shouts and talk from behind, she could ignore while gloating. But the sound of feet jumping off the ground made her turn around.

"Lemonade Shining!" A wide swarm of yellow butterflies were slowly approaching Parsee's position. Wide enough to slip through.

"Sword Hurricane!" Purple swords were conjured high above Parsee and rained down towards and behind her. She could evade them but it discouraged flight or retreat.

"Seems you fairies are getting the hang of this," Parsee commented as she anticipated the real attack.

"Passionato Harmony!" Sure enough, the direct beam came for Parsee from the front. Parsee twirled away from a falling sword as she launched an elbow-posed missile to intercept the main beam. Then a second one flew out fist-first to attack whoever fired that.

Melody and Rhythm let go of their hands and conjured their bertiers. The green fist-pose harmlessly passed between them as they advanced towards Parsee at an angle. Lemonade's butterflies flew ahead of them, triggering the flower-shaped mines and dissipating the lime green bullets. This let them get close to Parsee without dealing with clutter.

"Music Rondo!" was shouted in stereo when Parsee performed a twin shot while stepping back from a sword and a butterfly. Two magic hoops each bound a silhouette, canceling the threat. The bertiers got detached into two halves.

"Miracle Heart Arpeggio!" "Fantastic Piacere!" The next two body missiles were terminated in an explosion which obscured vision. Parsee concentrated on the trajectories above her as she waited for the right timing.

"Super Quartet!" There it was, the follow up attack. Parsee jumped up to avoid the colourful spray, deftly twisting her body into the gaps in the swords. She did not see Dream jump up from behind Melody until it was too late.

"Shooting Star!" Dream's shielded torpedo-dive knocked aside falling swords and connected with Parsee. Dream flew out the other side and Parsee found herself immobilised. That was March's cue to emerge from behind Rhythm.

"March Shoot Impact!" The empowered kick sent Parsee far high. The spellcard domain shattered, restoring the cityscape background.

* * *

Outside, Blossom and Sunshine had arrived halfway through the most recent spellcard. The uncertainy of what was happening beyond the green boundary put anxiety on their hearts. When the dome disappeared, a shower of enormous, pink and purple flower petals was definitely not within expectations.

"Egret! Are you ok?" asked Dream. Blossom held back on asking about the petals.

"A little vertigo," diagnosed Egret.

"We'll be ok," assured Windy while getting up.

"Glad you could make it Blossom, Sunshine!" greeted Marine while floating above. Ok, that was enough waiting.

"What made those flower petals?" asked Blossom.

"Parsee's latest attacks made floating flower bombs," replied Marine.

"Which flowers were they?" inquired the botany geek.

"Cranesbills and Rhododendron" answered Rin. She wasn't the daughter of flower shop owners for nothing.

"So 'Envy' and 'I am dangerous'?" translated Blossom. "That must have been a sight, wish I was there."

"I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!" came Parsee's crazed yell from above. Everyone looked up and saw Parsee coming down with a cluster of bullets. They scattered in response. As such, only Sunshine was nearby when Parsee tackled Blossom and flew off with her. Sunshine got a hold on Parsee's leg but could not stop the flight.

"Feed me!" demanded Parsee. Sunshine saw Blossom being afflicted by a malignant, green aura.

"Uwahhh!" cried Blossom as her wish to see the giant flowers became distorted into oppressive jealousy towards everyone who had seen it. Friendship, logic, guilt... it all seemed to be devoured by the obsessive resentment.

"Let her go!" shouted Sunshine while swinging her body to kick Parsee away.

"This is it! The petty feelings of cattle don't compare to the spite in a warrior's heart!" grinned Parsee. She ignored the kicks to her side.

"I! Will! Not! Lose!" asserted Blossom. Parsee was shocked that the previously-limp body in her hands regained strength and shoved her away. Sunshine then threw Parsee away. A red-tinged Marine caught up with the group and twisted her momentum into a drop kick. A cloud of dust and debris arose from Parsee's crater on the ground.

"Blossom!" said Sunshine.

"You're ok!" said Marine as she flew back, the perfume's effect fading away. Blossom embraced them both as they all landed.

"How...? How is it possible to break free from that?!" screamed Parsee as if accusing someone of coming back from the dead.

"I once held back Moonlight when her father was killed in front of her," answered Blossom, eyes burning with determination. "I won't run away from my own declaration that day: sadness and hatred are things you must clench your teeth and cut off."

"But... I... That's..." Parsee could not make her words form a sentence. Seeing other Precure closing in, she gave up on conversation and roared like an animal instead. "Malice Sign - Midnight Anathema Ritual!"

Before the dome formed, Heart, Diamond, Rosetta and Regina got close enough. Setsuna teleported in with Peach, Berry, Pine, Beat and Muse. Everyone else was cut off from the pocket world that swallowed the relatively unharmed urban terrain.

* * *

"Change! Precure! Beat Up!" Setsuna immediately transformed into Passion while the others covered for her.

"You and you!" Parsee pointed an accusatory finger around. "How are you back so soon? You were defeated!"

"You just caught me off-guard, won't happen again," said Muse, arms-crossed.

"It's troubling if you think I can't make a perfect comeback," said Berry, posing for a non-existent camera.

"Being together with Heart gives me strength!" said Regina while squeezing Heart's hand.

"Feels like it was just yesterday when you were denying that," teased Diamond. Before Regina could make a witty response, Parsee started attacking.

A conjured hammer was in Parsee's hand, its head about the size of a melon. Above her other hand, an exaggerated nail quickly took shape. If not for its shape, it would be called a spear. With the clang of two metals colliding, the nail was propelled. It pierced into the ground where Peach's group had been. Dirty white fireballs spewed out from its head, as if it was a geyser tapping into the resentment of the underworld. A nearby building didn't stay standing for long after being hit by the stream of white.

After Rosetta dodged the second nail, Diamond threw some broken concrete at it. The rubble only made a thud when it hit the nail.

"Everyone, don't let her spread those things all over the area!" shouted Beat.

"How do we do that?" asked Peach while cartwheeling away from a nail. "We can't stay close to them." That nail crashed through the walls of another building until it was embedded in the ground.

"Rosetta Balloon!" A large yellow balloon appeared above the Precure. "One. Two. Three!" On Rosetta's count, out popped several poles.

"Good thinking!" said Muse as she grabbed a pole and parried the next nail with it. Its new trajectory made it entrench in the vicinity of the first geyser. Everyone else equipped themselves too and then spread out.

"Haaaaaahhhh!" With their war cries in synchrony, Heart and Regina charged down a road towards Parsee in the air. The spear of light twirled in Regina's hands and a nail was knocked aside. Heart pole-vaulted into the air to bat aside the next nail. The other Precure performed a cross between lacross and volleyball to make sure those deflected nails did not land far from pre-existing geysers. As they got close, Heart threw aside her pole and gripped the spear together with Regina.

"Lovely Heart Spear!" The spear tip gleamed white before shooting out a beam.

"Happiness Hurricane!" Timed with the beam, Passion filled the air around and above Parsee with heart-shaped deterrants. Parsee dropped altitude in response.

"Rosetta Reflection!" The beam got reflected off Rosetta's barrier and came back for Parsee. It was evaded again, but Parsee did not expect the barrier itself to also get thrown at her. Parsee was knocked to the ground, where Sunshine had been waiting from a moment ago. Rosetta landed and joined the melee.

"I knew it, she can't do any other attack while inside a spellcard dome," said Muse, on standby while watching Parsee struggling inbetween two martial artists.

"What was that 'Lovely Heart Spear'?" asked Beat. "Did they make that up on the spot?"

"Actually they spent a lunchtime coming up with that," laughed Diamond. "Regina insisted she have a team attack too."

"Healing Prayer Fresh!" Pine attacked from afar as Sunshine and Rosetta restricted Parsee's movements. If this succeeded, the others would unload their attacks on her in sequence.

"Graaahhhh!" With a grunt of frustration, Parsee conjured a nail. Rosetta grabbed her hammer arm but Parsee slammed the nail into the ground with just her free hand. The eruption from the nail head forced the melee combatants to retreat and Parsee got away from Pine's projectile.

"Ok, we're up next," said Diamond. With a solemn nod, Beat and Muse got in position with her.

* * *

"You despicable fairies, I'll make sure you can't get up again!" seethed Parsee as she looked for anyone to violently vent her vexations on. She heard a flute or some such. Were they already celebrating victory? Spotting Muse and Beat nearby, she charged at them on foot.

"Beat Barrier!" Seeing the blue force field envelope her targets, Parsee dunked a nail in the ground. After receiving the gouts of white pseudo-flame, the barrier shattered and the Precure within faded away.

Parsee blinked.

"Did you think you were the only one who could create fake bodies?" taunted Muse while emerging from around a building. Parsee backhanded another nail to spray her, only to find this was also a fake.

"Since when was Muse able to make illusions of other people too?" whispered Marine.

"I heard she'd been practising to do that," Blossom whispered back. "What about Beat projecting a shield around empty space?"

"She discussed that with me and Rosetta some time ago," answered Sunshine quietly. "There's no strength to that proxy barrier but it can look convincing."

With the certainty that nails traveling a distance would be parried, Parsee was forced to stick to the ground. The urban obstacles to line of sight were a real thorn in her side. Her opponents did not fire any projectiles to orientate herself with. This game with fakes was gnawing away at her nerves.

Suddenly she sensed one thought of envy. Parsee's smile could have been a gaping wound in her face. Finally another of these fairies had cracked and let jealousy into their consciousness. It was a truly vexing mystery how all these warriors kept that emotion out of their hearts throughout these fights. But one of them just let their guard down.

The walls, the parked cars, the tree - no inanimate obstacle slowed Parsee as she beelined to the source of envy. As she bust through the last wall, Diamond's face was painted in surprise. Muse also looked in panic as she conjured an organ keyboard in front of her. As her fingers hit the keys, they flew out and became a protective cocoon around Diamond. Like opening a clam, Parsee tore apart the rainbow-coloured barrier and grabbed Diamond by the shirt.

"Your envy! Give!" Parsee managed that much for coherent speech. As the resentment in Diamond was amplified, her face contorted into a smile.

A smile?

"Diamond Blizzard!" A mass of water was conjured and viciously swirled around. Parsee could not escape the vortex. Parsee was frozen with Diamond behind her, arms snaking under Parsee's armpits and hands clenching behind Parsee's neck.

"Happiness Leaf! Set!"

"Plus one! Prayer Leaf!"

"Plus one! Espoire Leaf!"

"Plus one! Lovely Leaf!"

The four-colour clover was formed and enlarged over the ice prison. When the four team members jumped on each leaf, it descended while bathing Parsee and Diamond in Precure energy.

"Lucky Clover Grand Finale!" The cage broke and Parsee emerged quite scathed. After quickly putting some vertical distance from everyone, the sound of a tambourine reached her ears. Turning to the source, she saw an enemy dancing before her.

"Are you making fun of me?!" Two nails were slammed out in quick succession. Blossom and Marine had been expecting them and they were deflected away.

"Gold Forte Burst!" A myriad of red and yellow sunflowers flew out like missiles, complete with smoke trails. Parsee began analysing the curtain fire to evade.

"I'm not done yet!" asserted Sunshine as she held her tambourine above her head to conjure a sun.

"Gather the power of the two flowers!" declared Blossom and Marine from behind Sunshine. "Floral Power Fortissimo!"

Parsee was expecting the sun to be thrown at her and attuned her bullet sense to it. She then concentrated on the sunflower missiles, for some were coming at curved trajectories.

"Heart Dynamite!" Sensing the accumulation of power in front of her, Parsee estimated the blast radius and retreated beyond that. True enough, the detonation didn't harm her but it was blinding.

"Shining Fortissimo!" A golden Blossom and Marine emerged from the sun. They did not register on Parsee's bullet sense. When she noticed, it was too late to dodge. As the golden duo slammed into their target, the green mesh boundary shattered before their flight.


	4. 4 - To a New Perspective

When Parsee opened her eyes, the sky came into view. She was flat on the ground. Looking around, she could see a large group of Precure around her. The variety in their costumes made her feel she was placed amidst a bouquet of singleton flowers.

"You..." Parsee addressed Diamond first. She couldn't muster much strength in her voice. "You deliberately baited me with your envy. How did you break free to imprison me?"

"I dredged up the thinking of my past self," answered Diamond. "That envy I had already conquered: rather than hogging the person you love to yourself, it's better to have your loved one's loved one love you back. Such wider harmony is more fulfilling than narrow possessiveness."

"Is that some tongue-twister riddle?" Parsee sought explanation.

"To quote C.S. Lewis when he and a friend lost a mutual friend," continued Diamond, " _In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now that Charles is dead, I shall never again see Ronald's reaction to a specifically Charles joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him 'to myself' now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald._ "

"Isn't that from The Four Loves?" asked Pine. She extended the quote: " _Hence true Friendship is the least jealous of loves. ... For in this love 'to divide is not to take away.'_ "

"Where'd you learn that?" inquired Diamond. "I just came across the quote from the internet."

"A friend at my Catholic school told me," said Pine.

"Precure..." Parsee changed the subject away from the incomprehensible. "You weren't that strong at first. Were you holding back to mock me?"

"We weren't familiar with how you fought," stated Berry.

"And we weren't with our closest friends," added Marine.

"But we talked it over with each other and came up with plans," said Beat.

"Are you all telepaths?" said Parsee, "You were too far away to share information."

"We were the ones doing the talking!" Coffret spoke up and reverted to his usual form.

"The cape was a familiar?!" Parsee was incredulous.

"Not all of us become capes," said Sharuru.

"Some of us don't transform at all," said Fari.

"It was such a headache because there were so many talking about so much," complained Milk from Dream's shoulder. Various talking animals or similar began to speak up, none of whom Parsee had noticed until now.

"Ahaha... ha... haah..." A broken laugh seeped out from Parsee. "You're saying I was defeated by this 'friendship' thing and by talking familiars? I can't acknowledge that, I refuse to! Resentment Art - Grudge Returning!"

A spellcard shot out of her sleeve and activated in her hand. The reaction from the Precure seemed oddly subdued.

"We understand," said Dream. "We discussed while you were unconscious."

"Our words alone aren't enough to reach you," said Melody. "Actions talk louder than words."

"Blossom, do me a favour?" said Marine, then she laid out her request.

"That's two favours," smiled Blossom, "sure I can do both."

* * *

Once again, the green dome came into existence. At the same time, Parsee's body floated up while spewing blue and red flames. Soon she was at the heart of an inferno that twisted itself into a giant humanoid shape.

"I will burn away this lie you call 'friendship'!" roared the inferno elemental. The Precure had already spread out in teams.

Milk wrapped herself around Dream's arm, transforming into an armband. Rouge, Lemonade, Mint and Aqua each summoned a tulip-shaped object. After flying around, these tulips assembled at the wand in Dream's hand, which she then brought to her armband. The wand glowed then arose in the air, where it grew into a substantial platform.

"Come forth, the source of all Notes!" At the same time, Melody's team were gathered around a box while standing in a large magic circle. Similarly, other teams were making their own preparations.

The giant swiped its arm and an arc of fire whipped out towards Dream and her friends. But before it reached, the five were beamed up to the platform. Once they were onboard, it accelerated forwards.

"Five Explosion!" The platform grew multi-coloured, translucent butterfly wings. It veered sideways to dodge an incoming column of flame, then rammed into the giant's right shoulder despite its attempt to twist away. With an explosion of light, the butterfly battleplatform released its energy, extinguishing the joint. The five Precure landed together with the detached right arm amidst scattering butterflies of light.

"Suite Session Ensemble Crescendo!" The giant turned and saw a road in the air, made of light shaped like a piano keyboard. Four Precure were flying in with arms crossed in front of them. They were absorbed by a large, golden, winged gem or such. The elemental of burning resentment hurriedly stepped away but was clipped as the gem accelerated greatly. A chunk of its side was knocked away.

"Deliver the light of hope!" Happy was spotted, riding a conjured, pink pegasus. She was with four other pegasus riders.

"Fly into the future shining with light!" Expecting another ramming attack, the giant assembled an orb of immolating ire in its left hand and threw it to intercept.

"Royal Rainbow Burst!" The pegasi flew up to avoid the orb. Their riders summoned a phoenix from their wands. The bird of flame breathed a beam of rainbow energy. The remaining arm was sacrificed to protect the body. From the severed shoulder, a new arm was growing but it seemed so slow compared to the rate of damage taken.

"Royal Lovely Straight Flush" Five angel-winged Precure had formed a circle of power, high in the air. A mostly pink beam was fired from its centre. The back jump reaction would have avoided it, but it split into a shower of white sparks. The giant's left leg was shredded of its firey substance.

"Marble Screw Max" The white beam laced with black and white spiral lightning came for the giant's head. While balancing on its right leg, the elemental expelled a conflagration from its mouth to fight back. "Spark!" The white beam got dyed in a turbluent mixture of rainbow colours. The blazing breath was pushed back and the head was extinguished.

At this point, what had been a small sphere of light got enveloped by multiple layers. It turned into a giant egg which cracked apart to reveal a giant-sized Marine in a flowing white dress and cape.

"The Precure shining like the stars: HeartCatch Precure - Unlimited Silhouette!"

"Wait shouldn't that be Blossom?" retorted Sunny.

"That must be the favour Marine asked for," remarked Happy.

"I want to go big too someday," said Peace.

"Wouldn't that wish need another big enemy to show up?" Beauty pointed out.

"Oh, that's not good." realised Peace.

"Take this, unlimited love!" announced Marine. "Precure! Straight Punch!" The fist struck the giant's heart where Parsee had docked. The remaining fire mass was blown away in an explosion of light together with the spellcard domain.

* * *

Parsee had expected to never think or perceive again. She very much perceived the stinging pain on her cheek. She caught herself thinking about this pain. Slowly she started registering the work her ears were doing. With a mutter, she opened her eyes.

"Good, you're awake," said Erika. Her face took up most of the view. Parsee tried to push her away but lacked the strength. Her body didn't feel sore anywhere but she was severely enervated.

"You didn't kill me," stated Parsee. Looking around, they were in a park. All collateral damage from the battle had vanished and people were starting to come out again. Erika, Tsubomi and Alice were next to Parsee, others were in hearing distance.

"We fight for love, not for hate," responded Tsubomi, hands behind her back.

"Again with that nonsense," started Parsee. She didn't have the energy to launch a tirade, let alone more physical violence.

Tsubomi presented her with a bouquet of six flowers: Chamomilles, White Chrysanthemums, Daffodils, Dahlias, Alstromeria and Pink Roses. Parsee stared at them in silence, then opened her mouth.

"This is a lot to take in," said Parsee. She pointed to the Alstromeria flowers, "What are these for?"

"In the Western flower language, the Alstromeria can mean 'devotion' and 'mutual support'," answered Tsubomi.

"So when you put this Dahlia in," began Parsee.

"It refers to your fashion sense," finished Erika. "You are more than just a channeler of jealousy. I can't decipher the message of this bouquet, but you can. You have an eye for clothes too."

"These Pink Roses serve double duty," added Alice. "Yes, they're included for the 'confidence' meaning. But in the West, they mean 'appreciation'."

"Jealousy is a sign of not being happy with yourself," said Tsubomi. "Overcoming that is what I refer to with the Chamomille."

"And we'll help you do just that," declared Erika.

"Why would you go so far for me?" shouted Parsee. "After what I did to the population of this city and to you?"

"You were burdened by your power over jealousy," said Setsuna as she stepped forth. "The only way you knew to react to your emotions was with your power. When it was nearly depleted, you were desperate to fuel it back to full blaze."

"How can you say that with certainty?" asked Parsee.

"Because I went through a similar experience," stated Setsuna.

"Now that you've been purified of that power, you're going to have a rough time adjusting," said Ellen as she too walked closer. "I know from experience how hard that period will be. Don't worry, we'll be here for you."

"We'll start by giving you a makeover," said Erika as she pulled Parsee's hand to get her standing. "You gotta pick out a new dress. Ellen, I haven't forgotten to drill some fashion sense into you either."

"This is all too sudden!" protested Parsee. "Let me rest and digest this!"

"You can do that while we dress you up," said Erika. "Just stand still in the shop and we'll fetch outfits for you."

As Parsee got escorted away, the other girls returned to their civilian lives too.

"Say Tsubomi, what was that bouquet?" asked Love.

"Erika asked me to pick out flowers to speak our mind to Parsee," answered Tsubomi. "I asked for help to gather them on short notice."

"What was the message?" said Love.

"The flowers chosen had the following Hanakotoba meanings," Tsubomi rattled off. "'Overcome hardship', 'truth or self-esteem', 'respect', 'good taste' and 'confidence'. Add 'mutual support' and 'appreciation' from Western meanings."

* * *

 **Afterword:**

 _No, I did not explain how or why Parsee was pulled into this world. Explaining that would have unnecessarily bloated the story and left a really loose end to resolve. This story's objective was this the fight scenes. It took two years to write up due to breaks and such. The sheer number of moving pieces in this story was a headache to juggle. But that was offset by encountering all the unexpected synergies between the Precure when contemplating them together._

 _As for how the Precure fought spellcard battles, I looked to the 'bomb spamming' tactics of weaker Touhou players. I do it too when I'm just trying to clear a final or Extra stage for the first time. For comparison, I envisage Reimu calmly taking down Parsee with mundane ammunition while getting past her with no spellcard usage._


End file.
